Conformal Mapping and its Applications

Suman Ganguli1
1
Department of Physics, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996
(Dated: November 20, 2008)
Conformal (Same form or shape) mapping is an important technique used in complex analysis
and has many applications in different physical situations.If the function is harmonic (ie it satisfies
Laplace’s equation ∇2 f = 0 )then the transformation of such functions via conformal mapping is also
harmonic. So equations pertaining to any field that can be represented by a potential function (all
conservative fields) can be solved via conformal mapping.If the physical problem can be represented
by complex functions but the geometric structure becomes inconvenient then by an appropriate
mapping it can be transferred to a problem with much more convenient geometry. This article gives
a brief introduction to conformal mappings and some of its applications in physical problems.

PACS numbers:

I. INTRODUCTION

A conformal map is a function which preserves the

angles.Conformal map preserves both angles and shape
of infinitesimal small figures but not necessarily their
size.More formally, a map

w = f (z) (1)

is called conformal (or angle-preserving) at z0 if it pre-

serves oriented angles between curves through z0 , as well
as their orientation, i.e. direction.
An important family of examples of conformal maps
comes from complex analysis. If U is an open subset of
the complex plane, , then a function
f :U → C
is conformal if and only if it is holomorphic and its FIG. 1: Mapping of graph
derivative is everywhere non-zero on U. If f is antiholo-
morphic (that is, the conjugate to a holomorphic func-
tion), it still preserves angles, but it reverses their orien- II. BASIC THEORY
tation.
The Riemann mapping theorem, states that any non- Let us consider a function
empty open simply connected proper subset of C admits
a bijective conformal map to the open unit disk(the open w = f (z) (2)
unit disk around P (where P is a given point in the plane),
is the set of points whose distance from P is less than 1) where z = x + iy and w = u + iv We find that dz =
in complex plane C ie if U is a simply connected open dx + idy, and dw = du + idv,
subset in complex plane C, which is not all of C,then
2
there exists a bijective ie one-to-one mapping f from U | dz | = dx2 + dy 2 , (3)
to open unit disk D.
f :U → D and
where 2
| dw | = du2 + dv 2 (4)
D = {z ∈ C : | z | < 1 }
As f is a bijective map it is conformal. Then the square of the length element in (x,y) plane is
A map of the extended complex plane (which is con-
formally equivalent to a sphere) onto itself is conformal ds2 = dx2 + dy 2 (5)
if and only if it is a Mobius transformation ie a transfor-
mation leading to a rational function of the form f(z) = and square of the length element in (u,v) plane is
az+b
cz+d . Again, for the conjugate, angles are preserved, but
orientation is reversed. dS 2 = du2 + dv 2 (6)
From equations (3) , (4), (5), (6) we find that,
dS/ds =| dw/dz | . (7)
ie the ratio of arc lengths of two planes remains essentially
constant in the neighborhood of each point in z plane pro-
vided w(z) is analytic and have a nonzero or finite slope
at that point.This implies the linear dimensions in two
planes are proportional and the net result of this transfor-
mation is to change the dimensions in equal proportions
and rotate each infinitesimal area in the neighborhood of
that point. Thus the angle (which is represented as the
ratio of linear dimensions) is preserved although shape in
a large scale will not be preserved in general as the value
of | dw/dz | will vary considerably at different points in
the plane. Due to this property such transformations are
called conformal. This leads to the following theorem.
Theorem : Assume that f (z) is analytic and not con-
stant in a domain D of the complex z plane. For any point
z ∈ D for which f´ (z) 6= 0, this mapping is conformal,
that is, it preserves the angle between two differentiable
arcs.
Example: Let D be the rectangular region in the z
plane bounded by x = 0, y = 0, x = 2 and y = 1. The
image of D under the transformation w = (1 +ı)z +(1 +
2ı) is given by the rectangular region D of the w plane
bounded by u + v = 3, u - v = -1, u + v = 7 and u - v
= -3.
If w = u + ıv, where u, v ∈ R, then u = x - y + 1, v =
x + y + 2. Thus the points a, b, c, and d are mapped to
the points (0,3), (1,2), (3,4), and (2,5), respectively. The
line x = 0 is mapped to u = -y+1, v = y+2, or u+v = 3;
similarly for the other sides of the rectangle (Fig 2). The
rectangle D is translated by (1 + 2ı), rotated by an angle
π/4 in p the counterclockwise direction, and dilated by a
factor (2). In general, a linear transformation f(z) =
αz + β, translates by β, rotates by arg(/α), and dilates
(or contracts) by | α |. Because f(z) = α 6= 0, a linear
transformation is always conformal.
FIG. 2: Mapping of a rectangle
The below theorem (stated without proof), related to
inverse mapping, is an important property of conformal
2
mapping as it states that inverse mapping also preserves
the angle.
Theorem: Assume that f (z) is analytic at z0 and that
f0(z) 6= 0. Then f (z) is univalent in the neighborhood of
z0 . More precisely, f has a unique analytic inverse F in
the neighborhood of w0 ≡f(z0 ); that is, if z is sufficiently
near z0 , then z = F(w), where w ≡ f(z). Similarly, if w is
sufficiently near w0 and z ≡ F(w), then w = f (z). Fur-
thermore, f0(z)F 0(w) = 1, which implies that the inverse
map is conformal.
This uniqueness and conformal property of inverse
mapping allows us to map the solution obtained in w-
plane to z-plane.
Critical Points: If f0(z0 ) = 0, then the analytic trans-
formation f(z) ceases to be conformal. Such a point is
called a critical point of f . Because critical points are
zeroes of the analytic function f0, they are isolated.
III. APPLICATIONS
A large number of problems arising in fluid mechanics,
electrostatics, heat conduction, and many other physical
situations can be mathematically formulated in terms of
Laplaces equation. ie, all these physical problems reduce
to solving the equation
Φxx + Φyy = 0. (8)
in a certain region D of the z plane. The function Φ(x,
y), in addition to satisfying this equation also satisfies
certain boundary conditions on the boundary C of the
region D. From the theory of analytic functions we know
that the real and the imaginary parts of an analytic func-
tion satisfy Laplaces equation. It follows that solving the
above problem reduces to finding a function that is ana-
lytic in D and that satisfies certain boundary conditions
on C. It turns out that the solution of this problem can be
greatly simplified if the region D is either the upper half
of the z plane or the unit disk.
Example: Consider two infinite parallel flat plates,
separated by a distanced and maintained at zero poten-
tial. A line of charge q per unit length is located between
the two planes at a distance ’a’ from the lower plate .The
problem is to find the electrostatic potential in the shaded
region of the z plane.
The conformal mapping w = exp(πz/d) maps the
shaded strip of the z plane onto the upper half of the
w plane. So the point z = ıa is mapped to the point w0
= exp(ıπa/d); the points on the lower plate, z = x, and
on the upper plate, z = x + ıd, map to the real axis w
= u for u > 0 and u < 0, respectively. Let us consider
a line of charge q at w0 and a line of charge -q at w0 .
Consider the associated complex potential
w − w¯0
Ω(w) = −2 log(w−w0 )+2q log(w− w¯0 ) = 2q log( )
w − w0
(9)
FIG. 3: Mapping of two infinite parallel conducting plate with
a charge in between

Calling Cq a closed contour around the charge q, we FIG. 4: Two semiinfinite plane conductors meet at an angle
see that Gauss law is satisfied, 0 < α < π/2 and are charged at constant potentials Φ1 and
I I I Φ2
En ds = Im Ēdz = Im −Ω0(w) = 4πq (10)
Cq Cq C̃q

where C̃q is the image of Cq in the w-plane. Then,

calling Ω = Φ + ıΨ, we see that Φ is zero on the real
axis of the w plane. Consequently, we have satisfied the
boundary condition Φ = 0 on the plates, and hence the
electrostatic potential at any point of the shaded region
of the z plane is given by

w − e−ıv
Φ = 2q log( ) (11) FIG. 5: Two inclined plates with a charge in between
w − eıv

where v = πa/d
Conformal mappings are invaluable for solving prob-
lems in engineering and physics that can be expressed
in terms of functions of a complex variable, but that ex-
hibit inconvenient geometries. By choosing an appropri-
ate mapping, the analyst can transform the inconvenient
geometry into a much more convenient one. For exam-
ple, one may be desirous of calculating the electric field,
E(z), arising from a point charge located near the corner
of two conducting planes making a certain angle (where
z is the complex coordinate of a point in 2-space). This
problem is quite clumsy to solve in closed form.
However, by employing a very simple conformal map-
ping, the inconvenient angle is mapped to one of pre-
cisely pi radians, meaning that the corner of two planes
is transformed to a straight line. In this new domain, the
problem, that of calculating the electric field impressed
by a point charge located near a conducting wall, is quite
easy to solve.
The solution is obtained in this domain, E(w), and
then mapped back to the original domain by noting that
w was obtained as a function (viz., the composition of
E and w) of z, whence E(w) can be viewed as E(w(z)),
which is a function of z, the original coordinate basis.Note
that this application is not a contradiction to the fact
that conformal mappings preserve angles, they do so only
for points in the interior of their domain, and not at the
boundary.
The above fundamental technique is used to obtain
closed form expressions of characteristic impedance and
dielectric constant of different types of waveguides.A
series of conformal mappings are performed to obtain
the characteristics for a range of different geometric
parameters1 .
Conformal mapping has various applications in the
field of medical physics.For example conformal mapping
is applied to brain surface mapping. This is based on
the fact that any genus zero (The genus of a connected,
orientable surface is an integer representing the max-
imum number of cuttings along closed simple curves
without rendering the resultant manifold disconnected;
a sphere,disk or annuls have genus zero) surface can be
mapped conformally onto the sphere and any local por-
tion thereof onto a disk2 .
Conformal mapping can be used in scattering and
diffraction problems.For scattering and diffraction prob-
lem of plane electromagnetic waves, the mathematical
problem involves finding a solution to scaler wave func-
tion which satisfies both boundary condition and radia-
tion condition at infinity. Exact solutions are available
for such problems only for a few cases.Conformal map-
pings are used to study far field expressions of scattered
and diffracted waves for more general cases.

3

FIG. 6: Mobius transformation.
FIG. 7: Reconstruction of brain onto sphere
1
C.P. Wen, 1969,IEEE.Trans.Microw Theory Tech.,17,1087
2
X. Gu, Y. Wang, T.F. Chan, P.M. Thompson and S.-T.
Yau, ”Genus Zero Surface Conformal Mapping and Its Ap-
IV. CONCLUSION
There are different aspects of conformal mapping that
can be used for practical applications though the essence
remains the same: it preserves the angle and shape lo-
cally and mappings of harmonic potentials remains har-
monic. These properties of conformal mapping make it
advantageous in complex situations , specifically electro-
magnetic potential problems for general systems. Various
conformal techniques such as genus zero conformal map-
ping is also used to complex surface mapping problems.
However the conformal mapping approach is limited to
problems that can be reduced to two dimensions and to
problems with high degrees of symmetry. It is often im-
possible to apply this technique when the symmetry is
broken.
plication to Brain Surface Mapping”, IEEE Transaction on
Medical Imaging, 23(8), Aug. 2004, pp. 949-958